Coffee companion

Kathy commented on the tea fairy card I made recently asking about the possibility of a coffee fairy. Tee-Hee was keen to prove her credentials as an accommodating sort (but points out she’s actually a pixie). As Kathy’s been doing battle with a nasty lurgy recently, I figured an easy cuppa might be just the job so Tee-Hee got her way and upped the level of caffeination!

Coffee bags are not something I’ve tried but thinking about whether they existed (they do, there’s one in this card in the same way there was a tea bag in the tea card) triggered the memory of little individual “over cup” filters in the first place I ever worked. Those had what was essentially a big round coffee bag in the base of a filter basket that sat on top of a cup — you filled the basket and let the coffee drip through. Totally wasteful plastic-wise but I guess every person got freshly brewed coffee. My 14 year old waitress self didn’t really appreciate the faff though!

The cup is the bottom one from a stacked tower. That meant I couldn’t do this as a genuine one layer card as it’s pretty much impossible to stamp that one cup so I fussy cut and stuck it in place.

I’ll add this to the January Lost Coast Designs challenge as my final entry this month.

Stamps:
TeeHee HLP (Lost Coast Designs)
Coffee and Tea (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
Tea time (I think that's what it's called)(Crafter's Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Wink of Stella pen
Gift card dies (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Corner Chomper

Winged thoughts

Combining the bubble border with a butterfly image was actually my first idea for January’s “Winged Things” challenge at Lost Coast Designs but I got sidetracked into other projects along the way. I have managed to get the idea out of my head and onto a card before the challenge ends though. 

I’m also playing again at We Love Stamping where this month’s theme is “new”. The very pretty sentiment is new — it’s from another of the Katzelkraft sets I bought recently.

A new to me challenge is Time Out where the current theme is to be inspired by a favourite technique. I heat embossed my bubble border to create little cells for watercolour media — it’s a quick and easy way to contain your colour without having to be too careful so that’s a win in my book! This is also CAS which is one of my favourite ways to make cards so if that’s considered a technique (rather than a style) then I’ll claim that too.

I used a Copic marker to fill in the black at the edge and the butterfly is watercoloured. The wings are bent up a little so it looks like she’s just landed and there’s some gentle sparkle courtesy of Wink of Stella. Having chopped off her antennae when  I fussy cut the butterfly, I drew some new ones with a quick flick of a fineliner.

Stamps:
Bubble border (Lost Coast Designs)
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)
Enjoy Quotes (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Zig Clean Color markers
Watercolour pencils (Derwent)
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Black fineliner
Detail embossing powder (clear)

Pretty in (festive) pink

I got an idea into my head for another way to play along with the Christmas Kickstart Dreaming of a Pink Christmas challenge. Several frustrating hours later, the initial idea was a distant memory and the lovely piece of alcohol ink background (with silver mixative) I’d made was die cut into several baubles. Even then, only one of them made it onto the final card. Maybe pink and what was essentially a piece of patterned paper was just toooo far out of my comfort zone!

I wanted a skinny frame and didn’t have anything suitable so I used nesting rectangle dies, found it still wasn’t really skinny enough so trimmed a bit off the outer edge. I found some washi tape that has an interesting “tarnished silver” look to it and used that to cover the frame.

The branch is built up of one small stamp used several times to make a larger bough. I added a few freehand extras as well, just to fill it out a bit. My go-to embellishment of tiny nail art gems make an appearance in two shades of pink and three sizes.

Still not quite convinced I like this but it might grow on me.

Stamps:
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Pale pink glossy

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Picked Raspberry)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Silver leafing pen (Krylon)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Vintage Ornament die (Impression Obsession, no longer with us)
Copic Various refills (Fucshia and Sugared Almond Pink)
Silver Mixative (Ranger)
Washi tape

Tea fairy

It’s always nice when the tea fairy calls (i.e. someone else makes you a cuppa and delivers it to your elbow when you’re working). Failing that, just making time to sit for a few minutes with a nice brew can make a difference to your day. 

So, with that and the current Lost Coast Designs challenge (Winged Things) in mind, I made a little presentation card for a tea bag. I’ve had this tea fairy stamp for ages and never got round to using her before. She’s rather sweet even if she does look slightly mischievous! She’s got sparkly pink hair as well as sparkly wings, just because. I fully expected my Wink of Stella pen to have dried up as it must be several years since I used it but it delivered, no problem. 

I cut little tabs inside the card to hold a tea bag in a paper sachet with a die designed to cut them to hold a gift card. My sachet was slightly wider than the usual gift card so I modified by cutting one side, then shifting the die to cut the other.

Sending a special tea bag can be a nice way to say to a friend “I’m thinking of you, make sure you take some time for yourself".

Stamps:
TeeHee HLP (Lost Coast Designs)
Retro Women 2 (Tanda Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Wink of Stella pen
Gift card dies (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Corner Chomper

Birthday bird

I’m playing with Katzelkraft stamps again. I’m not sure what this chap actually is — I’m tending towards albatross but if anyone knows any better, let me know! In any case, he has wings so I’m playing at Lost Coast Designs where this month’s theme is Winged Things. As this is a newly-acquired stamp I’m also joining We Love Stamping where the theme is “New”.

The Perspective Floor stamp gave him a great grounding. I did have to fill in a bit by hand as I didn’t cut the mask between his legs (too fragile and unstable) so the flooring pattern was missing there. Don’t tell anyone but I messed up matching the filled in squares — I don’t think the recipient would notice if you didn’t point it out! I kept the slightly psychedelic feel going with the background stencil.

I added just a little bit of smudged pencil around the die cut sentiment to accentuate it a bit. The original plan was to  just have it white but it looked a wee bit lost once it was stuck down. I figured if the pencil didn’t look right either I could always erase it!

Stamps:
We Are All Mad Here (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
 Perspective Floor (Lost Coast Designs)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger (Peacock Feathers)

Other:
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Time Tunnel stencil (Visible Image)
Clear detail embossing powder
Momento marker (London Fog)
Happy Birthday Poe Script die (Poppystamps)

Pink Christmas

It might seem odd that my first card of 2026 is a Christmas card but I’m going to make a determined effort to play along with Christmas Kickstart this year so I hope I’m starting as I mean to go on. Jo’s guest elf this month is the lovely Chris Lawler who has chosen a colour theme — pink! Not a colour I naturally gravitate to but I did my best to embrace it!

The Christmas wording dies got their first outing here so I’m playing at Die Cut Divas too where the theme is New. Although I’ve had them a while this is the first time I’ve even opened the packaging so I hope that counts! I used them to cut hot pink glitter card to stick to an inky background then stood my fussy cut bear on top of the wording, I hope she's light enough on her feet not to squash it! 

I sprinkled a few tiny die cut stars and some white pen dots around the place, mounted with a broad border and called it done. The confetti die used for the stars is ancient (I’ve had it at least ten years) but very useful! The bear’s raised paw has a couple of layers of cardstock scraps behind it so it’s a got just a wee bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Pink glitter card 
Bristol board 

Ink: 
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Rosebud)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)
Adirondack by Ranger (Raspberry)

Other:
Stylish Script Christmas Wishes dies  (Lisa Horton for Creative Expressions)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bold and bright

I had a second black card base on my desk after colouring PH Gnome as Santa (here) so decided to have another play. This time I heat embossed the stamped image in gold to get all that lovely grungy detail on the base. Again, I stamped the image on white, coloured and fussy cut it then lined it up with the one on the card base. The tips of the leaves are slightly raised with scraps of card for a bit of dimension.

For some reason I decided that die cutting individual letters to make up the sentiment would be  a good idea — I won’t be doing that again in a hurry! Still, it’s given it a bold and graphic feel which seemed to suit the image. I used a couple of light grey Copics at the base of each letter to give a very slight ombre effect. I decided to make the text deliberately “wonky” as even the teeniest discrepancy in either baseline alignment or spacing tends to scream at me if it’s supposed to be straight.

Stamps:
Inked Holly (Visible Image)

Paper:

Raven black
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Detail embossing powder (gold)
Tim Holtz/sizzix Alphanumeric Classic Lower dies
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Corner Chomper

I’ve just discovered the We Love Stamping challenge (I’m slow on the uptake!) where this month’s theme is red and green so I’m playing along there with this card.

Christmas roses

In a change of pace — something more on the elegant side and very die-based compared to my usual stampiness! I’ve had this set for years and barely used it so thought it was about time it got a proper workout.

This started life in my head as a white on white creation with a silver sentiment.  I couldn’t make the florals look anything but bland though (I don’t know how others pull it off for gloriously chic creations!). I ended up going through every sort of colouring medium and eventually binning them and starting again! This time the flowers are cut from red card, edges inked with Distress and a little bit of detail added with a white pencil. The rest was cut from white and coloured with Copics with a tiny bit of pencil on the holly veins. 

I heat embossed the gold sentiment then added the frame and assembled everything in the corner, using scraps of card to vary the heights, and finally called it done. 

I confess it reminded me why I don’t do this style of card very often — it doesn’t come naturally and takes me longer than seems humanly possible 😂 It’s a good job I know the intended recipients will appreciate it!

Stamps:

Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Red

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark
Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door)

Other:
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Branch die (Craft Emotions)
Stitched square frame dies (Paper Rose)
Detail embossing powder (gold)
White pencil

With so many die cuts, it would be rude not to join the Die Cut Divas’ Christmas/winter challenge, don’t you think? Click the graphic for all the challenge details. 

More kraftiness

I enjoyed colouring Sidoney the dog on a kraft card base a few days back so when I set out to make a card for cat-loving friends I decided to go the same way. The standing cat is coloured to look a bit like the all white one they have now, her curled up companion bears a passing resemblance to their previous cat. Neither of them would stand for the antics of that pesky rodent though!

I’ve used another of the fantastic Katzelkraft sets I bought recently. These are such fun to combine in different ways. I did have plans to use the wrapped gifts from the accessories set as my friend’s cat is an avid box fan, if there’s an open box, she will be sitting or standing in it without question. In the end though, I couldn’t resist a little scene with the cheeky mouse teasing his two opponents. 

I wanted a Christmas tree in the scene but didn’t have a suitably sized stamp in my stash so I decided to have a go at drawing my own. I sketched it on some scrap paper first to make sure my limited drawing skills were up to the task, then scribbled pencil on the back and transferred it to the card, drew over the faint pencil lines with a fineline marker and coloured with pencils. The garland (or string of tiny lights if you prefer to think of them that way) is just dots of paint pen. I think it turned out OK!

Stamps:
Les Chats Russe (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Foxy Christmas (Woodware)

Paper:
Kraft 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen (white)
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

As my little mouse is definitely showing some sass, I’m playing for the first time at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where this month’s theme is “Cheeky Christmas” — click the image for challenge details!

Santa Sidoney

Another quick card for the pile of last minute Christmas cards (although the masking took much longer than it had any right to do, I’m out of practice!). 

Having only just got round to using these stamps, I ordered some more Katzelkraft in the That's Crafty Black Friday sale. I  subsequently discovered that Katzelkraft ceased trading in the spring so I went back and ordered a few more! I’m really sad, not only because I’ve not long started building a little collection of their stamps but because one of the reasons for the closure is the cheap knock-offs flooding some of the better known online shopping platforms  ☹️ If you know anyone tempted by such “bargains”, please try to talk them out of it, it’s killing genuine businesses, many of them small concerns run by passionately creative people who deserve to be properly rewarded for their time, energy and creativity.

So, with that off my chest — Santa hat from the accessories set stamped and masked, Sidoney stamped to suffer the ignominy of having to wear it and then everything coloured with pencils. Stamped sentiment with a few paint pen dots and my usual rounded corner to finish it off.

Stamps:
Chien Sidoney (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Les droles d’accessoire (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Foxy Christmas (Woodware)

Paper:
Kraft 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen
Corner Chomper

Why not join in at Christmas Kickstart if, like me, you’re playing catch up?! As Jo says — if it’s Christmassy, link it up!